Commerce
The steamboat secured American economic growth. Steamboats moved commercial barges quickly and cheaply, increasing interstate trade. “Northerners supplied the West and the South with textiles and other manufactured goods. Southerners supplied the North with cotton, the raw material they needed to produce their textiles” (Aboukhadijeh). Furthermore, “goods such as . . . sugar were moving from south to north and commodities such as grain, pork, and poultry were being transported from north to south This meant that there could be more regional specialization in agriculture and manufacturing” (Hedeen). Other types of goods included:
As such, “the movement of the cargo that the steamboats carried allowed raw materials, such as lumber and nails for housing and stores, to expand the industry of the country. The return trip carrying cotton, for instance, especially increased the making of clothing and bedding for the rest of the people in the factories of the northeast. The movement of the people also increased production as more workers meant more commerce” (Howard). Also, “in 1813, Congress gave the steamboat transportation system full authority to deliver the U.S. mail. The inventory included parcel packages, letters, packets, newspapers and postcards. This worked out well for the river cities and ports” (Stevenson).
Robert Fulton's Clermont helped achieve the steamboat's economic success. “On August 7, 1807, Robert Fulton's Clermont went from New York City to Albany making history with a 150-mile trip taking 32 hours at an average speed of about 5 miles-per-hour” (Bellis, “The History of Steamboats”). “Skeptics initially thought the project would never work and nicknamed the boat ‘Fulton’s Folly’” (Aboukhadijeh). “Finally, Fulton could declare, ‘The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved.’ . . . Fulton put the North River Steamboat of Clermont into commercial service along the same route on September 4th (cost: $7 one-way)” (“Robert Fulton: Commercial Steamboat”). Fulton made steamboat transportation a commercial reality in the U.S. “Thereafter, use of the steamboat spread rapidly, with steamers making the run from New Orleans as far north as Ohio” (Aboukhadijeh).
To continue using steamboats, new industries such as shipbuilding, fuel, insurance, and repair facilities were developed, creating new jobs. Also, steamboats encouraged improvements to the river system to maximize economic growth; therefore, canals, dams, and locks were built. Thus began the “canal era in the United States, exemplified by the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825” (Hedeen).
The steamboat secured American economic growth. Steamboats moved commercial barges quickly and cheaply, increasing interstate trade. “Northerners supplied the West and the South with textiles and other manufactured goods. Southerners supplied the North with cotton, the raw material they needed to produce their textiles” (Aboukhadijeh). Furthermore, “goods such as . . . sugar were moving from south to north and commodities such as grain, pork, and poultry were being transported from north to south This meant that there could be more regional specialization in agriculture and manufacturing” (Hedeen). Other types of goods included:
- “farm and construction implements such as plows, shovels and axes . . .
- oxen in their cargo hulls, needed to pull the plows . . .
- thousands of barrels of crop seed in their holds, needed by settlers who began to create farms and agricultural areas . . .
- huge quantities of lead picked up at the Julien Dubuque's mines close to the city of Dubuque, Iowa . . . more than 7,645 trips were made by 365 steamboats . . . a total of nearly 5 million tons of lead was carried downstream while the mining of lead prospered . . .
- glass [produced\ in the Ohio Valley (steamboats were needed to move huge quantities of it to other eastern coast cities and to the south; glass plants were set up in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, which also needed steamboats to transport glass) . . .
- coal [that was\ transported by steamboat to Pittsburgh in enormous quantities from outlying Pennsylvania areas, Kentucky and West Virginia. . .
- steel . . . picked up and transported from the steel mills of Pittsburgh to virtually all the major river cities for the construction of steam engines, tools and agricultural machinery . . .
- corn, hogsheads of tobacco, thousands of bales of cotton and sacks of sugar (steamboats traveled from Nashville to New Orleans during the major shipping season, which ended on July 1 . . . steamboats left New Orleans for the return trip to Nashville, loaded with dry goods, queen's ware and salt) . . .
- factory-produced furniture such as tables, chairs, pianos and ceramic tableware . . .
- wool, livestock, bricks, staves, construction logs and lumber also made shorter runs to port cities.”
As such, “the movement of the cargo that the steamboats carried allowed raw materials, such as lumber and nails for housing and stores, to expand the industry of the country. The return trip carrying cotton, for instance, especially increased the making of clothing and bedding for the rest of the people in the factories of the northeast. The movement of the people also increased production as more workers meant more commerce” (Howard). Also, “in 1813, Congress gave the steamboat transportation system full authority to deliver the U.S. mail. The inventory included parcel packages, letters, packets, newspapers and postcards. This worked out well for the river cities and ports” (Stevenson).
Robert Fulton's Clermont helped achieve the steamboat's economic success. “On August 7, 1807, Robert Fulton's Clermont went from New York City to Albany making history with a 150-mile trip taking 32 hours at an average speed of about 5 miles-per-hour” (Bellis, “The History of Steamboats”). “Skeptics initially thought the project would never work and nicknamed the boat ‘Fulton’s Folly’” (Aboukhadijeh). “Finally, Fulton could declare, ‘The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved.’ . . . Fulton put the North River Steamboat of Clermont into commercial service along the same route on September 4th (cost: $7 one-way)” (“Robert Fulton: Commercial Steamboat”). Fulton made steamboat transportation a commercial reality in the U.S. “Thereafter, use of the steamboat spread rapidly, with steamers making the run from New Orleans as far north as Ohio” (Aboukhadijeh).
To continue using steamboats, new industries such as shipbuilding, fuel, insurance, and repair facilities were developed, creating new jobs. Also, steamboats encouraged improvements to the river system to maximize economic growth; therefore, canals, dams, and locks were built. Thus began the “canal era in the United States, exemplified by the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825” (Hedeen).
“Steamboats stimulated manufacturing and economic development along the inland rivers, launching the Ohio valley’s industrial revolution and moving the nation’s freight until supplanted by railroads trucks, and towboats. To fuel the New Orleans [the first steamboat on the western rivers, some of the first coal mines in the Ohio valley opened, presaging the boating of coal along the rivers to generate power for homes and industry. Pressing the frontier steadily west, steamboats carried Native Americans to new homes and converted agricultural villages into boat construction centers, manufacturing emporiums, and ultimately, cities, altering the social fabric of both Native American and Euro-African settlers alike.”
- Dr. Leland R. Johnson, authority on the history of rivers and engineering.